Promoting Your Business

You and your employees are dedicated to being the best at what you do. You’re all about quality, and you’re confident that your products or services rank with the best of them.

But here’s the thing: no matter how good you are at what you do, and no matter how clearly your business should be the first choice of customers and clients, you won’t get anywhere unless your target audience is aware of and enthusiastic about your business.

You need to promote your business to get customers in the door. And even if those customers are blown away by the quality of your offerings, you’ll still need more promotion to stay on their minds and make it easier for them to recommend you to others. Here’s what you need to know about promoting your business.

Marketing your business to new customers

Every business plan needs to identify the customers or clients who will provide the business with an income. Without customers who actually want whatever you’re selling, you’re cooked.

And once you identify a great number of would-be customers, your work is far from over. You have to actually get those people in the door (or to your website, etc.), and that is easier said than done.

This is where marketing comes in. You should consider investing in outsourced marketing solutions that will help you build your brand and put your company in places that your customers will see it: on television, in online ads, and at the top of the Google search results.

A good marketing plan attacks multiple areas at once, combining organic search engine optimization (SEO) with traditional advertising. The right marketing and promotion will give your business a fighting chance by getting customers to show up. Once customers give you a shot, you can prove your worth by providing the quality goods or services you want to be known for.

Of course, while pleasing customers is the main idea, it’s not the only thing you need to do, which brings us to our next section.

Staying on your customers’ minds

Marketing isn’t just about getting customers in the door — it’s also about keeping them coming back.

Sure, we’d all like to think that quality work is all it takes to get a satisfied customer to return. But our lives are busy and hectic, and we can’t always remember the name and address of every company that pleases us. And we’re constantly being barraged by advertising and marketing, and being encouraged to check out competitors.

To keep your customers coming back, you need to do more than just please them once. You’ll need to remind them that they liked your work. You’ll need to give them a brand to identity and remember, a visual shorthand that they can use to identify the company they liked (and, hopefully, recommend it to their friends and family).

That’s why you should incorporate your branding and marketing into your business’ actual offerings as much as possible. Add your logo to presentation folders or make sure that your products are labeled with your branding. Let customers walk away with a free sticker at the cash register. Keep business cards at the reception desk. Give away promotional pens, or all sorts of other promotional devices — a good custom printing company can put your logo on everything from folders to lip balm.

You work hard to make your business better than the competition. Make sure that your branding, marketing, and promotional materials are working as hard as you are. With the right branding and the right reminders, your satisfied customers will find their way back to you and your great business.